This invention relates to a safety device which may be used to assist persons positioning themselves in a water closet of the type having a toilet bowl in which human body wastes are flushed down a drain by water from a cistern or the like. In water closets of this type, the toilet bowl is supported on the floor or from a wall and is usually provided with a toilet seat which has two pivotally connected portions, viz. a fixed portion mounted on the upper rim of the toilet bowl and a movable portion which may be pivoted from a generally horizontal or seating position to an upright or urinal position.
It is proposed to provide a safety device in the form of a grab rail which can be rigidly mounted on a toilet bowl to make it easier and safer for persons to lower themselves onto and raise themselves from a toilet seat. Although the toilet grab rail may be used by anybody, it is particularly suitable for the ages, the disabled, the incapacitated and other handicapped persons who are at risk or face difficulties when attempting to use this type of toilet facility.
Various aids have been proposed to assist handicapped people to use toilet facilities unaided and without needing the attendance of a carer. In one proposal, grab rails have been fixed to the walls of a water closet. These have not proved to be a satisfactory solution for handicapped people. In large water closets, these grab rails are often too remote for convenient and safe use by all handicapped people. In smaller water closets, grab rails sometimes hinder the movement of a handicapped person in the water closet.
Some prior devices have been supported by the floor and thus occupy valuable floor space to the inconvenience of handicapped persons. Some devices are not fixed to the floor and they pose a serious risk to unaided handicapped users. It has also been proposed to support armrests from mounts on the toilet seat and also from mounts on the toilet bowl. The purpose of the armrests is merely to enable an occupant to maintain a more comfortable and helpful posture. The prior armrests have not been designed to support the weight of a person lowering himself onto the toilet seat or getting up therefrom.
It has also been proposed to provide a toilet seat with supporting handles, either moulded as part of the seat or supported by the seat. These supporting handles are of no assistance when the toilet seat is in an upright position. It is often a difficult and risky task for a handicapped person to attempt to move a toilet seat from an upright to a horizontal position. Furthermore, when the supporting handles are under load, there is a risk that the toilet seat will break where the handles join the seat. Further, the supporting handles have caused problems when attempting to clean and sanitise the toilet seat.
Another prior proposal provides a structure supported by the toilet bowl having a pair of pivotally mounted rails on which the arms may be supported. The rails may be moved from an upright inoperative position at the rear of the toilet bowl to an operative inclined position directed towards the front of the toilet bowl. These moving rails put an unaided handicapped person at risk when attempting to move them to the desired position, particularly when the rails move unexpectedly or not in the desired direction of movement.
It is an object of the invention to provide a toilet grab rail support which may be rigidly mounted on a toilet bowl and is formed so as to assist handicapped persons lowering themselves onto a toilet seat and raising themselves therefrom.
Accordingly, the invention provides a toilet grab rail support for a toilet bowl having a seat held thereon by bolts passing through a fixed portion of the seat and through the toilet bowl, said grab rail support comprises a mounting portion adapted to be rigidly mounted on the rear portion of the toilet bowl and secured thereto by said bolts, side rails rigidly connected to the mounting portion so that, when the device is mounted on the toilet bowl, the side rails extend forwardly from the mounting portion so as to be spaced closely from the outer surface of the toilet bowl near the rim thereof, the side rails near the front of the toilet bowl curve upwardly and are configured to form rigid hand pieces which can be gripped by persons lowering themselves onto and raising themselves from the toilet seat.